Chapter 38

Chapter 38
Chapter 38

The entire restaurant went silent and Megan could feel the dagger like eyes piercing through her very flesh.

Goosebumps gathered on her arms and her once confident aura dissipated like it was never there in the first place.

Her eyes suddenly finding the pristine tiled floors very interesting, refused to look up or around her.

Had she finally gone insane?

She was not sure what she had been doing all of this while.

The publisher’s words hung in mid air making the silence very loud and uncomfortable.

“W-who are you? Where is Miss Ainsley?”

Megan’s lips trembled as her vision because blurry due to the tears that had gathered at the corners of her eyes.

The whispers filled the room. 

It wasn’t Cleo Ainsley they saw, it was the nobody, Megan Melroy.

How come she had seen differently?

Would she be arrested for impersonation?

These were the thoughts that ran through her mind as she prayed to the heavens to open up the ground to swallow her whole.

Subtly, she looked at her reflection and felt a panic in her heart.

She looked exactly like she did yesterday in the office.

She was not in some pretty dress and she did not have brown bouncy curls.

Her brill the black hair was in a ponytail with her oversized sweater and thick rimmed glasses.

Wait….. did she come all the way here after doing an all nighter at the office?

Did she….

Did she just imagine the entire thing?

Her posture skimped further adding to her already humped back.

She felt foolish but most of all, she was afraid.

“N-no N-no”

She mumbled as she staggered backwards in a hurry causing her body to hit a nearby chair.

She tumbled over.

She looked up and everyone was starting down at her.

Their eyes narrowed and cold.

Her breathing quickened and it was taking every ounce of strength that he could possibly muster for her not to pass out at that very minute.

“Megan? What are you doing here?”

Megan heard from above her and looking up, she sees Linda and her boss, Cleo Ainsley in all their glory.

They look beautiful and confident like they always did.

Even Linda who she had imagined had somehow taken her place looked just like she always did.

How could she have imagined the whole thing?

“Look at them starting down at you with pity in their eyes”

A strange little voice whispered in her ear causing Megan to while her head around hurriedly but she saw no one.

She shook her head concluding that it was just her imagining again.

“Do they think they are better than you?”

The voice whispered again as Linda stretched out her hand to help her off the floor.

“Look at her laughing at you”

And just like that, Linda’s once worried face morphed into one that had an eerie smirk.

“Just because they wear such fancy clothes while you do all of the work.”

The voice whispered again and even though Mehan could not understand what was happening, she felt a huge well of jealousy and hatred swell up within her.

She lists to the voice as it talked more and more and what was worse was that the more the voice talked, the more she agreed with what it was saying.

Megan finally stood up on her own and ignoring the stares and whispers, she made her way through the crowd and into the hallway of the restaurant.

However, she did not cry.

Her eyes were glazed over and there was something strong burning in her heart.

She now understood what she had to do.



Her palms slammed against the sink of the restroom as she took in deep breaths in a desperate attempt to calm her fast beating heart.

Her skin was pale and her eyes hollow.

Her stomach churned with every breath that she took.

Her reflection stared right back at her in the wide bathroom mirror.

Megan could not help but be thankful that it was empty.

That was when she saw it…….

A figure…

But unlike the figure she saw back in the cramped office.

This particular one was beautiful and it that of a female.

Her bronzed skin shone brightly in the brightly lit bathroom.

Her plump glossy lips slightly ajar as her they were  painted crimson. 

Her beautiful blonde hair also caught her eye.

She looked like some sort of a goddess?

Was she just imagining things again?

Then all of a sudden, the reflection seemed to become one with her and instead of staring at the pale faced Megan, she was now looking at the bronzed skin goddess.

He breath hitched and a knot formed in her throat.

Megan swallowed heard as she touched her face in awe.

“Am I-?” 

However, she stopped mid sentence as she looked in horror at her lips which didn’t move.

Instead, the reflection smiled at her and began to speak.

“You asked for their lives, didn't you?”

Her lips followed which felt foreign to her. 

Megan froze. Her hand recoiled as if the glass had burned her.
“No,” she croaked. “No, I didn’t—”
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Her blood turned cold.
The sound came from the bathroom stalls.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.

She was sure that the place was empty.

Her entire body flinched as the knocks reverberated through out her entire body.

She was sure that it was the exact rhythm that’s he had heard back in the office.

Her knees wobbled in horror as she gripped the skin tightly, cutting off the blood supply to her hand.

The knocks became louder and more intense as she shut her eyes hoping all of it would just stop.

All these started with that darn manuscript.

The girl in Room 324.

What the hell is happening?!

A creaking sound echoed in the emory bathroom and this was more than enough to get the attention of Megan.

The stall door on the far right corner creaked open and this time, Megan could not stop the tears that fell down the sides of her cheeks.